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Sunday, September 30, 2012

As promised, and because it's that time of the month again... I am ready to add an addition to Scarlet's Growth Chart. I thought it would be interesting to show the progress of Scarlet's growth with my cat Sushi; something to compare her size to. This particular day that I was taking the photo, I had just got in the door for the day with the baby and I had just laid Scarlet on her blanket and Sushi was sitting beside me and I felt this tap-tap-tap. Tap-tap-tap. Sushi was gently getting my attention to tell me that I had NOT yet paid attention to her. So I just had to have a snuggle with her first or she would never have sat still for our monthly photo shoot. These two are going to be great friends. I hope. The way Sushi gets right in there, I'm not sure if its curiosity, jealously or friendship. I suspect it's all 3.

So let's step back just a bit... to the first day home from the hospital. Look at the size of Scarlet's head compared to the cat... she was such a teeny tiny little thing.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Time to share some finishes!! I was on a roll, and I managed to get some seasonal pieces framed and ready to add to my autumn decor for this year. I didn't get these 3 finished in time to share with everyone in 2011 (far as having them framed), so when the mood struck this week, I got busy!

The first I'd like to share is a DMC Freebie called "Falling Leaves". If you'd like to find out the details about it, you can have a look at this post here from last year. The little wooden frame I've had sitting around for many moons, and it was the perfect fit!

Now on to the spooky...

"Fright Night" is a cute little pattern by Lizzie Kate. The frame for it was picked up at a second hand store for next to nothing, and I actually tweaked the pattern by adding a border to accommodate the frame (you can read about it here). I also switched out the recommended beads for french knots. I didn't have on hand the petite beads they asked for, and I was too cheap frugal to buy a whole pack for just 8 beads, so french knots it was. I dry brushed a bit of black paint on to the frame, and it was good to go!

Last but not least, we have "Witches Stitch Too!" (Here's the info for it in this post here.) It was so much fun to stitch and put together!! I really think that it is one of my all time favourite pieces... not just as far as Halloween goes, but maybe of all I've ever stitched. Well, for the time being, anyway... :-)

It's amazing what a little black paint can do to transform a $2.00 frame from hunter green and honey to black and primitive. Gotta love it!!

Can't wait to show you what I'm stitching now to add to my Halloween collection... you'll just have to wait until next time to see!

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

This summer, my good friend Kathy and her husband purchased kayaks. She emailed me one day with a picture of her in her kayak and said, "We'll have to go out sometime". I was so excited and I replied back and said, I would LOVE to go out! I have always wanted to go kayaking. She had no idea that that was on my bucket list so to speak.

So in early August, my daughter and her husband rented a cottage and I invited Kathy to come out and join us one evening and everyone was so excited to try out the kayaks. Even Libby.

We had a blast and Kathy mentioned 'before we know it... summer will be gone and we'll have to get back out here as many times as we can'. I only live 10 minutes from the lake and Kathy lives 20 minutes in the opposite direction. So we devised a plan so that on the nights that we decide we are going to go kayaking, I would drive home from work via the lake shore to ensure the water was calm enough to go out, then I would call her and she would know whether or not to load up the truck and head on into my place. Otherwise, why waste the time & gas - only to be disappointed once we got out a rough lake. (Sometimes, I"m SMRT - Smart)

We have a great time. It's so relaxing..., fresh air..., great company..., great scenery... so peaceful..., chatting away....you know... we pretty much solve the problems of the world while we are out there scanning the shoreline. We enjoy our time Kay-Yak-Yak-Yaking.

Because we have limited daylight now, I like to get out of work ASAP on the nights we are going to go out on the lake. My friend Celia drove us in to work today, and before leaving I asked her if she would mind popping through Burger King so I could grab a quick bite around by the lake so I could check the water. She was most obliging and said Kay-Yak-Yak-Yaking sounds like it would be a lot of fun!

I arrived home about 10 minutes before Kathy would get to my place so I thought I could take a quick minute and check email. And low and behold - I see Tracey's post that she uploaded today about the Kite-Surfing and I thought 'yep... enjoy the last of these days while we can !!' It was most ironic to be reading about going to the beach and still being able to enjoy it in mid September just as much as we did mid summer - and I was heading in that exact same location in less than 10 minutes.

So Kathy and I get out onto the lake and every once in awhile we slip the oars into the water to see how deep it is. (The nice thing about Ipperwash beach is that you can go out so far before it is even up to your neck.) Tonight... we are Kay-Yak-Yak-Yaking away and I said, "ummm Kathy... how deep do you think it is here?". She tested it and said,....."ya... we are out a bit too far - let's go in".

So we headed in. After being on the lake for a couple of hours, the sun was setting beautifully and I said 'damn, I wish I brought my camera - LOOK at the sky!" Luckily, Kathy had hers, so we took some shots and I said, "please send those to me as soon as you can, I want to get them on the blog".

I arrive home, and a short while later I send Kathy a thank you email for taking me out this evening and just as I hit send - her email arrives with the pictures she took this evening. I opened them up and I was so excited to go through them and pick which ones I wanted on the blog posting. Just as I'm up loading Kathy's pictures to the blog - I then receive THIS next picture from Celia in an email that said, "Look waayyy out.. Guess who that is?" Now how funny was THAT?? (I must remember to ask Celia if she could hear us Kay-YAK-ing from the shoreline... you know how sound carries over the water)

ooops.... I guess we were out a bit farther than we thought....

Now in the next few shots, you can't really tell that it's me.... but I am at least closer to the shoreline now. The water is literally about 4 inches deep right where I am. This year the lake has been the warmest, and cleanest that I have seen it in years. And tonight it was absolutely crystal clear.

Besides spending a most relaxing evening with a great friend, and knowing that another great friend took the time to drive out to the lake to watch us kayaking (and take a photo of us) - the sky reminded me that I should also be spending some of my evenings doing another one of my most favourite things; cross stitching. But alas... there will be many many cooler days ahead for that. For now... let's enjoy this gorgeous summer that we've had for as long as we can.

Kathy was trying to get as much background into my picture to show the 'cross-stitch' in the sky and so that's why you can't really tell that it's me. But it is, and I got a great shot of her! She commented 'I wished I got a better close up of you, but I wanted to the the sky for you - oh well ! We're just going to have to go out again SOON" Excellent plan!

Are there any cross stitch lovers out there that have ever seen a cross stitch sunset??? If so... it's a sign for you. If not; enjoy this shot. I'm even considering converting it into a cross stitch pattern.

And Tracey, Anita and Jody ... I promise I won't up-change the pattern. But I better get cracking on reorganizing all my floss. What was it again Anita... left to right or right to left?

If anyone was confused by that... stay tuned - that's another post. p.s. Tracey.... did we get any photos of the confusion organizing of floss ???

While out for a drive this past Sunday, we ended up out at the lake which is about 10 minutes from where we live. We went to the part of the beach where you are able to drive right on the sand next to the water, and as we rounded the corner we came across this spectacular sight...

At first we thought it was just people out at the beach flying kites. As we approached, we realized that it was a group of people standing on boards out on the water attached to these massive kites overhead.

I had never seen such a thing before; I didn't even know what this sport was called. Thanks to a bit of searching online I found out it was appropriately called "kite surfing" :-)

What a fun way to enjoy a gorgeous day on one of the final days of summer.

Contributors

About Us

Hello and welcome! We're Jody, Tracey, Bonnie and Anita, and we're so glad you stopped by our blog for a visit!

Our love of stitching is what brought our group together 20 years ago, but what we truly cherish is the amazing friendship that the 4 of us share; a bond which continues to grow stronger as the years go by.

As you read our blog, you will see it has a little bit of everything - hence the name, More Than Just Cross Stitchin'. We hope you'll come back again soon!

Charlie Brown

Growing up, I had a pet monkey named Charlie Brown. Actually, he belonged to my sister and he came to live with us in 1966. You were actually allowed to have monkeys as pets then and if you can beleive it, he was ordered from an ad in the back of a magazine. Charlie Brown was a squirrel monkey (just like the ones in the Telus commericials).

Everyone in school loved when it was my turn for 'show and tell'. You will see in some of the photos (if the slide show downloads for me...) that he used to wear diapers. Eventually, he learned how to take them off. We had a rope strung across the kitchen from end to the other. We kept a piece of papertowel on the floor at the end of one rope and that's where he did his business. His rope provided many hours of entertainment. At bedtime, if mom and dad were not home when it was bedtime, he would sit on his roap and cry out until they returned.

If I was crying, Dad would put him up to my face to lick away my tears. He would dangle from my hair and lick from one eye to the next. It alwyays made me stop crying. He would play outside and every once in awhile he would swing from tree to tree and end up down the street at the neighbours.

Often you would find the monkey lying in the cast iron pan on the stove. The pilot light from the gas stove provided him a warm and comfy spot. He would also sit on top of the lamp shade for warmth, and if you ever heard a 'pop' - you knew he peed on the lightbulb. It happens...

Charlie Brown used to sit on the wall phone.... until it rang. That was always funny. He brought many years of amusement to us all and I miss him and his antics.

Bonnie

Welcome to Jody's

It's a Dishcloth!

No... It's 2 Perfect Ones!

Anita's Chicken

Anita created this from looking at a picture from a magazine. No pattern. THAT girl !!!

Tracey working away with her crochet hooks she bought when she was in Grade 7 along with a beginner book. Her determination to learn by herself at such a young age is admiring.

Here is one of Tracey's projects on the go.

Anita's handy work

Warm toes

Warm hearts ... and warm toes!

Well since we are talking winter, let's talk about warm hearts ... and warm toes.

A few years ago at Christmas we had a gift exchange. Ironically, both Anita and myself had the exact same idea for a present. We always open our gift bags at the same time, and it was really hard for me to keep a straight face when I saw that Anita had had the same gift idea as me and while she explained that she thought slippers would be a good idea, that way we could carry them in our bag with us at all times. Anita had knit slipppers for everyone and made a little draw-string pouch, with our names embroidered on it, to keep the socks in.

Then they all opened my gift bag and we burst out laughing. I knew how much everyone loved snowmen, so I had stitched faces on white slippers and added a carrot button for the nose. Well we weren't finished with the laughter because I thought we should get a picture with our slippers on. So then we were all sitting on the floor trying to get different positions in order to get everyone in the picture at the same time. We tried sitting up against the wall and taking the picture of our toes all pointing up to the ceiling and then I said, nooooo - that will show the snowman's face upside down. Someone said... (and I won't say who...) "Good point, let's think of something else. What if we lay on our back with our feet in the air - you know... like if our feet were ON the ceiling"

Well then the faces would still be upside down wouldn't they. Spontanious Laughter.

We had to think of something else. It was decided that we would just stand toe to toe in a huddle and we would take the picture from above in order to get everyone in the picture. Sounded like a good plan right?

Well... not if you have a protruding belly and/or big boobs. After the inital light-headedness subsided from sucking in our bellies, we had to deal with the shadow from the boobs.

So we stood in our huddle, adjusting, wiggling and laughing with our arms around each other while we tried not to tip over. It was about that moment when Anita's daughter walked in on us, which of course added to the laughter when we saw the look on her face.

Finally the photo was taken and our toes are doubly warm.

Bonnie

Where Does the Time Go?

Heatwave July 21, 2011

Anita's Lucky Charm

Winter Storm December 12, 2010

The storm didn't stop this Bloomin' Rose

Happy Birthday Dad

Dad was born on Armistice Day - November 11, 1918. Shown here with his favourite show off 'Charlie Brown' the monkey.

The Feathered Nest

Quite some time ago when I was perusing the Dollarama, I came across the cutest autumn tea towel with a teddy bear dressed up like a scarecrow. It immediately reminded me of Jody and I thought 'I'm going to get that for her', and then I thought... why not get one for everybody? And so I did and it was a hit.

From that point on, it's no surprise to any of us if there just happens to be an occasional 'mini gift' exchange on Cross Stitch night. Once when Jody hosted in February, she gave us all a tiny picture frame with a 1" x 1" opening. I had no idea what to do with mine, but Tracey knew immediately. Because it was Valentines day, Tracey stitched a heart.

Mine sat for a good number of months before I could figure out what I could stitch in such a tiny area and not copy Tracey's idea. And then one day it hit me; Jody loves snowmen. I would do a snowman in the frame that Jody gave me. But.... do they make snowman patterns for less than 1" x 1"? I couldn't be bothered looking, so I winged it. And voila! A happy smiley snowman face. I think it took longer to write this posting than it did to stitch that happy face.

We'll have to get a picture of Tracey's heart posted after her renovations are complete as I expect it's packed away for now.